Over the course of four decades and 23 studio albums, They Might Be Giants have continued to entertain generation after generation. The core duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell captivated the ears of college rock and alternative music fans in the 1980s-90s with fun, intelligent, and quirky songs such as “Birdhouse In Your Soul,” “Ana Ng,” “I Palindrome I,” and their cover of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople).”
The start of the century found the band continuing to put out albums for indie rock fans, but they also became the new “it” band for toddlers, releasing multiple children’s albums and recording for Disney productions including The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The two John’s will be going on the Big Show Tour, which will take them to Lincoln at The Bourbon Theater on Sept. 23 and The Admiral in Omaha on Sept. 24. The band will be playing different sets at each show. Linnell spoke on the phone about the Big Show Tour, their unique ways of distributing music over the years, AI and their unique fanbase.
They Might Be Giants have been doing shows over the last few years that celebrated their 1990 album, “Flood.” Linnell explained what will be different on the Big Show Tour.
“Well, we don’t have a set list for this,” he said. “Flansburg tends to cook up the set list, kind of at the last minute, so we don’t know exactly what songs are playing. But I can tell you that there’s going to be some new material, we are continuing with our three-piece horn section. I can’t remember if we did this last time, but they’re off book, meaning they’re not standing behind music stands, and they tend to range around the stage. And it’s a big, fun show, basically, I think that’s the meaning of the big show.”
The band is doing multiple shows in the same cities on this tour.
“We are touring in a way that’s less stressful for us now, which is that we tend to do multiple shows in the same town or nearby,” Linnell explained. “So less travel between shows. We tend to stay in the same city for a few nights, and the crew really loves that, because the equipment just usually stays on stage, and they don’t have to keep setting it up every night. So, it’s better for everybody in terms of the amount of work involved. We can concentrate on the show, and we’ll be more energetic and so on.”
They Might Be Giants have always found new ways of distributing their music and connecting with fans. Linnell discussed their methods and advice for bands in 2025 looking to distribute music.
“We started doing this Dial-A-Song thing in the early eighties, 1983, somewhere around there,” he said. “We had a phone machine, and we played, people could call up and listen to our songs on the phone. Which, at the time, was a novelty. Now, everyone listens to music on their phone, but it was kind of like a way to have a more direct connection to the audience and bypass the entire structure of the record industry. Things like that have always appealed to us. I don’t think we have any really good, specific advice now, because we are such an established franchise. I don’t know what it’s like for bands, trying to get started now, you know, the whole, the entire system has changed so radically. And I know that there are things that are easier and then there are things that are much more challenging.”
The band not only has dozens of studio albums, but also EPs and songs coming from various places such as Dial-A-Song. When asked if they feel the gravity and responsibility of such a large catalog, Linnell said he doesn’t think in those terms.
“I guess I feel like this stuff is all out there,” he said. “And it’s kind of the way things are now, like everything is accessible all the time, which wasn’t the case again when we were younger. So, I feel less concerned about the stuff being available. I guess, in one sense, what you’re suggesting is that we have a curatorial role that we have to pay attention to. And I think that’s totally right. I’m really pleased that vinyl has made enough of a comeback that we can actually sell these boutique-like objects at shows that you can’t just download. The actual physical vinyl, I think, appeals to so many people that we have a version of our music that we can actually sell to the people, rather than have them just scavenging online.”
They Might Be Giants have always sang about history, science, and other intellectual topics, and also see the potential negative impacts of artificial intelligence.
“I’m not particularly excited about AI so far,” Linnell stated. “The negatives are pretty overwhelming. My sense is that for a lot of people, it just represents a kind of a shortcut to creativity and the results, you know, you get what you pay for, really, it feels very lifeless to me—a lot of that stuff. I like the way we’ve been working all this time. I like the idea that we just kind of use our own imagination. It’s very hard writing songs. And I think that’s fine. I feel like that seems appropriate. You get out of it once you put into it.”
Generations of fans have listened to They Might Be Giants, from college students in the 1980s, alternative rock fans in the 1990s, and children and their parents after that. When asked if there are different types of fans of the band, Linnell said the fans have at least one thing in common.
“My sense is, and this has generally been the case over the years, that they are defined only by the fact that they like us. So, it’s the only thing they necessarily have in common,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s a very broad range of people, a broad range of ages, and walks of life. You know, it’s nice, actually, that we have such a diverse audience, because I think that a lot of bands have a kind of a specific moment when they hit and they have a big surge in popularity, and then that particular generation ages with them. And, you know, like you’re suggesting we continue to attract younger fans.”
In 2004, the band did a tour where they would write and perform a specific song for each venue they were playing at. One of those songs, which appears on the digital version of their Venue Songs album, is “Sokol Auditorium.” The band will be performing at The Admiral in Omaha, which was previously Sokol Auditorium. What are the chances of a re-write when they come to town?
“I would say not likely, my guess is we’re not going to really have time to prepare anything else,” Linnell said. “I mean, the great thing about the venue song tour was that we carved up time at soundcheck to write each song. But it was, it was a pretty frenetic operation, you know, like every single gig we were trying to write a new song. Some of them are a bit flip. I love that song ‘Sokol Auditorium.’”
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